Linsey Towering Without Sunshine : Calvary Chapel: The county’s top rebounder and second-leading scorer last season aims to improve her averages.

As half of Calvary Chapel’s formidable twin towers last season, Blythe Linsey knew she didn’t have to single-handedly carry the basketball team on her tall shoulders.

With 6-foot-5 center Sunshine McFarland nearby on the floor, the 6-4 Linsey could work relatively worry-free from the other post position. No major concerns about getting burned on defense. Or being held to fewer points than usual. Or even fouling out of games.

But there ain’t no Sunshine, ‘cause she’s gone . . . from the roster, that is, but not from the school. McFarland quit basketball, giving Linsey more room to roam in the paint. Well, almost.

“I usually still get double-teamed,” said Linsey, a junior. “Maybe that’ll never change. I’m learning to work my way around it.”

Linsey apparently is a quick study.

Last season, Linsey led the county in rebounding with 446 in 21 games for a 21.2 average and was second to Costa Mesa’s Olivia DiCamilli in scoring with a 21.5 average. She helped the Eagles win all 12 of their Arrowhead League games and finish with an 18-4 record.

Her efforts earned her most valuable player honors in the league and a lot of attention from college recruiters eager to get a jump on the competition. Several schools, including UCLA, Nevada Las Vegas, UC Irvine and University of the Pacific, have called Eagle Coach David Starr, asking about Linsey.

“When you’re 6-4, they all call,” said Starr, who will guide the Eagles in their first venture in the Olympic League this season. “Blythe is better than she was last year. She can shoot from the outside. She can shoot the three-pointer. She can dribble behind her back and through her legs. And did she tell you she’s ambidextrous?”

Linsey, 16, didn’t mention that or much of anything else to tout her skills because that’s not her style. If she’s going to brag, it’ll be through her actions on the court. They generally speak volumes.

“There isn’t anything I dislike about basketball, but I really like blocking shots and getting rebounds,” Linsey said. “I see a ball, I have to get it. I don’t care where it is.”

Partly because of that aggressive approach, Linsey fouled out of a few games last season and was in foul trouble in others. She hopes to improve in that area this season since the Eagles can’t afford to have her on the bench.

“I bring my hands down on defense and I seem to slap the (shorter) players,” Linsey said. “I’m working on trying to keep my arms up. The other teams love it when I foul out.”

Linsey says she has several other goals, including another undefeated league season. On the personal front, she laughs as she rattles off what she’d like to accomplish.

“I’d like to have my rebounding and scoring averages go up,” Linsey said. “I don’t want to be greedy or anything, but I’d like that. And maybe run faster.”

To sharpen her game, Linsey has a personal shooting coach and a trainer who helps her with vertical jumping, running and strength. For rough-and-tough conditioning, she calls on her 6-5 brother, Nathan, who didn’t play organized basketball but who nevertheless provides stiff competition.

“He’s real tough on me when we play. He’s very muscular and pushes me around,” said Linsey, the youngest of seven children and the only one still living with her parents in Cerritos.

Besides Blythe and Nathan, none of the other siblings are extraordinarily tall and neither are their parents. Linsey said her father, Martin, is 6-2 and her mother, Rita, is 5-9, so she doesn’t really know how she got her height. But she’s found a way to put it to good use.

“One person is not going to stop Blythe (on the court),” Starr said. “She cleaned house last year and she’s going to clean house this year.”